SoCon Men’s Basketball Recaps for March 1, 2008
DAVIDSON 89, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 69
STATESBORO, GA. --- A 21-3 Davidson run midway through the second half put away Georgia Southern as the Wildcats completed their perfect Southern Conference season with an 89-69 victory Saturday night at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Davidson (23-6, 20-0) wins for the 19th straight game. Georgia Southern (20-11, 13-7) loses its third straight outing.
"They are obviously a really good basketball team," said GSU head coach Jeff Price. "You can understand why they are 20-0 in the conference.
They are a senior-led team; they’re a veteran team. We didn’t help ourselves any, by the way. We shot poorly from the free throw line which has been a concern all year. I don’t know that that would have made the difference, but they certainly are a very good team."
DC’s Stephen Curry led all scorers with 35 points and shot 13-for-17 from the floor and 7-for-9 from 3-point land. The seven treys are one shy of the school record by a GSU opponent.
"He’s hard to guard," said Price. "We knew what he was going to do. He gets looks like that, I mean, he had looks like that when we were right in his face and he made shots. He’s been doing it for two years and he’s going to keep doing it and you just have to hope you can contain him."
Boris Meno came off the bench to score 16 and Jason Richards had 12 points to go along with 12 assists.
Georgia Southern seniors Anthony Marshall (Lake Worth, Fla.) and Dwayne Foreman (Apopka, Fla.) shared team-high scoring honors with 15. Junior Julian Allen (Waterbury, Conn.) had 12 and senior Matthew Fields (Jacksonville, Fla.) added 10.
Senior Louis Graham (West Palm Beach, Fla.) was held scoreless in just 11 minutes of action. He fouled out with 12:21 remaining in the game. He failed to register a point for the first time since Feb. 17, 2005 against Furman.
"In that type of circumstance, it is nearly impossible to win the game," said Price. "He was taken out of the game, our team was taken out of the game and the coaches were taken out of the game. And it’s really unfortunate."
The back-breaking run started at the 12:05 mark with the first of 10 straight points by Curry. He made all five of his attempts over that span.
The Wildcats converted 72.7% of their shots in the second half, the highest by a GSU opponent this season.
Deadlocked at 31-31, Davidson outscored Georgia Southern 11-4 over the final four minutes of the first half to go into the break on top 42-35. The Eagles scored the first two points of the second half to cut the deficit to five, but could get no closer.
APPALACHIAN STATE 74, WESTERN CAROLINA 63
BOONE, N.C. Appalachian State University men's basketball closed the first half with an 11-2 run to propel it to a 74-63 win over the Western Carolina on Saturday afternoon. A raucous 'Senior Day' crowd of 3,732 saw the Mountaineers send off their seniors in style with a second-consecutive Southern Conference North Division crown.
Kellen Brand led Appalachian (18-12, 13-7 SoCon) with 18 points, while Donald Sims added 15 and Doug McLaughlin-Williams 10. Jeremy Clayton came just two points shy of his 22nd career double-double career with an 8-point, 13-rebound performance.
With the win, the Apps claimed a share of the North Division title with Chattanooga.
Western Carolina (10-19, 6-13 SoCon) was led by Jake Robinson’s 19 points. Negus McKenna added 14 and Eric Wilson chipped in 11 in the team's ninth-straight loss to Appalachian.
The Mountaineers shot 48.9 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range for the ninth time this season en route to the victory while the defense limited WCU to just 37 percent shooting.
Starting all five seniors, the Mountaineers jumped out to an 8-3 after staring the game on a three-pointer from Jay McMillan. The Catamounts clawed back and claimed the lead twice in the half before a Clayton dunk with 9:36 left in the half gave the Apps the lead for good. From there, ASU outscored WCU, 18-9, in the half to take a comfortable 10-point, 38-28, lead into halftime.
The Cats pulled as close as eight three times in the second half, the last coming on a three-pointer from Wilson with 13:44 left. That brief charge inspired a 9-3 ASU run to extend the lead back out to a game-high 14 points with 8:05 left on a Clayton tip-in to make it 61-47. From there, ASU’s lead would stay at 10 or above until a Negus McKenna three-pointer in the final minute pulled WCU within eight, but the Apps responded by making three free-throws down the stretch to preserve the 11-point win.
CHATTANOOGA 57, ELON 56
ELON, N.C. ? Marcus Watts knocked down 15 points and Nicchaeus Doaks scored 13 points ? including the decisive three-pointer with 31 seconds left ? as Chattanooga slipped past Elon for a 57-56 Southern Conference men’s basketball victory Saturday night at Alumni Gym to claim a share of the league’s North Division championship.
The Phoenix (11-18 overall, 9-11 SoCon) used a 13-2 spurt to transform a 7-2 deficit into a 15-9 edge on a free throw by Adam Constantine with 11:01 to play in the opening period. The Mocs (18-12, 13-7) charged back, reeling off 12 straight points to seize a 21-15 advantage on a dunk by Watts with 7:47 to go in the frame.
Elon notched the game’s next five markers to inch to within 21-20 on a jumper by Montell Watson with 3:36 left in the first half. Chattanooga responded with a 12-3 surge to build a 33-23 lead on a basket by Stephen McDowell with 16:15 remaining in the contest.
The Phoenix answered the call, going on an 18-6 tear to claim a 41-39 edge on an old-fashioned three-point play by Watson with 9:18 on the clock. The Mocs then proceeded to embark on an 11-5 run to go ahead 50-46 on a charity shot by Matt Gwynne with 5:08 remaining.
Elon went on an 8-2 spurt to fashion a 54-52 advantage on a pair of freebies by Brett James with 2:40 to play. Watts’ put-back tied the score at 54-54 at the 2:17 mark, but James drained a jumper to put the Phoenix on top at 56-54 with 58 ticks left and set the stage for Doaks’ heroics.
“Our kids did a very good job of hanging in there and keeping their perseverance,” Elon coach Ernie Nestor said. “They fought and scrapped and kept themselves in the game without making shots, which is a hard way to play basketball. You have to make some shots.”
The regular-season finale for both teams, the game featured three ties and seven lead changes. Each team hauled in 38 rebounds while Elon committed 14 turnovers to 19 by Chattanooga.
The Mocs held the Phoenix to 36.1-percent marksmanship (22 of 61) from the field ? 27.6 percent (8 of 29) in the first half ? while connecting on 43.8 percent (21 of 48) of their shots from the floor. Elon outscored Chattanooga 30-24 in the paint, 18-11 off turnovers, 15-10 off second chances and 19-15 off the bench.
Watts canned seven of his 10 attempts from the field while Doaks sank five of his eight shots and grabbed eight rebounds. McDowell tallied 11 points for the Mocs while Watson (15 points), James (11 points), Constantine (10 points, 10 rebounds), Brian Waters (seven boards) and Chris Long (four assists) led the Phoenix.
WOFFORD 91, THE CITADEL 77
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? The Wofford College men’s basketball team picked up a 91-77 win over The Citadel on Saturday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The Terriers had six players score in double figures, including seniors Drew Gibson with 20 and Shane Nichols with eleven on senior night.
Wofford is 15-15 overall and 8-12 in SoCon play. The Citadel is 6-23 overall and 1-19 in conference play. The Terriers were led with double-doubles by Drew Gibson with 20 points and twelve assists and Noah Dahlman with 17 points and 14 rebounds. The Citadel was led by Cameron Wells with 28 points and Zach Urbanus with 23 points. Wells added eight boards to lead the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs took an early 4-0 lead, but a three-pointer by Drew Gibson started a 13-0 run for the Terriers to go up 13-4 at 15:03. After a basket by Cameron Wells to cut the lead to 16-8, Matt Estep hit back-to-back three pointer. Cameron Wells scored a layup, but Matt Estep answered with his third three to give Wofford a 25-10 lead at 11:21.
Wofford built a 17-point lead at 8:39 with a three-pointer by Shane Nichols. The Terriers were able to hold the advantage at 17 when Matt Estep hit two free throws at 4:42 for a 37-20 lead. The Bulldogs chipped away and at the half the Terriers had a 43-30 lead.
In the second half, the Bulldogs started strong and cut the lead to ten points at 45-35 after a three-pointer by Zach Urbanus at 18:34. The Terriers were able to add to the lead over the next three minutes and took a 55-39 lead after back-to-back baskets by Tim Johnson.
After a bucket and the free throw at 10:44 by Drew Gibson, the Terriers had their largest lead of the night at 69-51. The Citadel fought back and put together a 13-5 run over three minutes to cut the lead to ten at 74-64. Wofford then scored the next six points to push the lead back to 80-64 with 6:03 on the clock. Over the last five minutes of play, the Terriers were able to keep the lead and won 91-77.
Wofford shot 55.2% from the floor and 44.4% from three. The Terriers were 79.2% from the line. The Bulldogs were 49.2% from the floor and 45.0% from behind the arc and 66.7% from the free throw line. Wofford had a 39-26 lead on the boards.
Wofford was without Terry Martin due to injury. For The Citadel, Matt Clark fouled out. The last time Wofford had six players score in double-figures was on February 19, 2003 against Toccoa Falls. The double-double by Drew Gibson was his third this season, while Noah Dahlman also had his third of the year. Matt Estep scored 13 points, ending a seven-game scoring drought. The 91 points scored by Wofford were the most this season in a game.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 77, FURMAN 59
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Dustin Scott scored 19 points, including 14 in the second half, and grabbed 10 rebounds to help College of Charleston upend Furman 77-59 in the regular season finale for both teams Saturday evening in the final game at the John Kresse Arena.
The Cougars improved to 14-16 overall and 9-11 in Southern Conference play while Furman dropped to 7-21 overall and 6-14 in the SoCon. The crowd of 3,043 witnesses the final game in the history of John Kresse Arena at the F. Mitchell Johnson Center as the Cougars will move to the new Carolina First Center next season
Charleston broke open a 41-39 game in the second half with a 16-0 run lasting more than six minutes to up the Cougar advantage to 57-39 on a Scott layup with just over 10 minutes remaining. The Cougars shot 54.5% in the second half and made 6-of-11 three-point attempts to outscore the Paladins 44-29 over the final 20 minutes.
Furman trailed just 33-30 at the intermission after shooting 42.3% from the floor, but finished the game at 37.7% (20-53) and made only 2-of-9 three-pointers over the final 20 minutes.
Tony White Jr. and Jeremy Simmons joined Scott in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively. The Cougars shot 48.4% from the floor and 9-of-27 beyond the arc. Charleston fashioned a 37-35 edge on the boards.
For Furman George Brozos tallied a career-high 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Justin Dehm reached double figures with 10 points while Alex Opacic added nine points and seven rebounds. The Paladins made 14-of-16 free throws, but only 5-of-21 three-point attempts.